Bob Dylan’s next bootleg series will stem from his work in Nashville between 1967-1969, taken from the John Wesley Harding and Johnny Cash sessions.
A source close to Dylan has commented about the archival rarities, saying “The outtakes from that period have never been heard.”
It looks as though unheard Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash outtakes from 1967-1969 are the next in series of bootlegs to be released from Dylan’s archives.
These outtakes occurred specifically during the three days it took to record John Wesley Harding and the eight days it took to record Nashville Skyline. Dylan fans are especially interested in the 5th day of the latter album, February 18th 1969, as that was the day in which Johnny Cash joined him in the studio. During this period, they played a duet of Wanted Man in addition to Matchbox, You Are My Sunshine, Mystery Train, Careless Love, Ring of Fire and Big River as well as a few others.
The only duet between Cash and Dylan released from this time is a reworked version of Girl From the North Country off the 1969 album, Nashville Skyline, making this upcoming series ever so enticing.
The project will be different from Dylan’s previous bootleg releases as it will share only a selective pool of these archives. The closely linked Dylan source explains, “We’re trying to find one really good takes of each song. The giant dumps of everything like we’ve done in recent years really aren’t my preference. I like stuff that is more curated.”
Plans for this project aren’t exactly clear however it is said these sessions will be released on their 25th anniversary in 2022. Keep your eyes peeled for another announcement.
Additionally, the musical Girl From the North Country based on the music from Dylan has been such a success that it will be making its broadway debut in 2020.
